Criminalizing Nature: Dark Times for Herbal Medicine in Europe http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/criminalizing-nature-dark-times-for-herbal-medicine-in-europe/

The EU has passed a stunning 139,338 directives, regulations and decisions since 1980. While it previously allowed European countries (now referred to as EU “member states”) to make up their own rules controlling natural healthcare products, there has been a push since around 2000 to control this area by rules formulated primarily by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.One of the laws that is set to devastate herbal medicines and products EU-wide, the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD, also known as Directive 2004/24/EC) successfully passed into European law back in 2004. The law will be implemented fully on May 1 this year, and ANH-Intl has exhausted all options other than legal challenge in its efforts to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of European citizens.